Music podcast

Spring is here and we’re seeing off another winter (at least in the Northern Hemisphere, we are). To mark the equinox, I’ve dug into the archive folder and found a show I recorded in April 2011…six years ago. Time flies, eh? It’s not exactly all light and airy, though. You’ve got some some weird-prog, courtesy of Peter Hammill, skewed indie-pop from Stephen Malkmus, low-key folk from Laura Marling and even the De La Soul track is a cautionary tale. Still, enjoy the mix and the (hopefully) warmer days!

Hello again – time for another old show I dug out of the folder. This one’s from December 2010 – seeing as it’s nearly December again, I thought I’d go with it.

I got a bit festive in the start of the episode with Misty’s Big Adventure and The Steve Miller Band. After that, it’s pretty much the usual grab-bag from my collection – a bit of jazz, ambient, electronic and rock with a trip to the Vinyl Vault thrown in, too. In this show, I dusted off my copy of Led Zeppelin‘s “Physical Graffiti”, as a request.

The Kaleidophonic Stroboscope is being switched on again! It’s been roughly four years since I created the last episode. Since then, I’ve only created one mix with the K.S. moniker, that I put on Mixcloud.

For those not in the know – the K.S. started as a demo mix for a possible radio show. I shopped it around to a couple of local radio stations, but they weren’t really interested in hosting the show. I decided to turn it into a podcast, which I ran monthly (or nearly) from 2008 to 2012. I meant to have a six-month break, but as sometimes happens, it was much longer.

The format was similar to a traditional radio show, where I would choose tracks, play a few, then talk about them. I would also have a section called ‘The Vinyl Vault’, where I would play a couple of tunes from an LP in my collection. This time around, I may stick with that format, or just create mixes with none of my dulcet tones in between the tracks. It’ll just depend what I’ve got time for.

My main influences for the podcast are The Greatest Show From Earth, a college-radio show broadcast on WWUH, in Hartford, Connecticut. I used to listen to the show regularly, in the 1990s and early 2000s. I believe it’s still a going concern and you can listen to it online. The other influence is the series of mixes called The Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble, created by The Future Sound Of London/Amorphous Androgynous. They were played on various radio stations in the UK from 1997 to 2009 – I managed to find most of them online, as ‘bootlegs’. There were also a few double-disc official versions released, but I prefer the radio ones – they have film dialogue and tracks that would take a long time and a lot more money to clear for use. I should also mention The Billboard Guide To Progressive Music by Bradley Smith, which turned me onto loads of bands and artists that I wouldn’t have known about. The late 90s Borders music crew I worked with (in Manchester, Conn.) also broadened my knowledge, so respect out to them, too.

To get the show rolling again – here’s an old episode, which is labelled ‘Show No. 8’, from early 2009, if I recall correctly. It’s a timely one, as it’s an ‘Election Special’. I’ll be working on a new mix, so enjoy this in the meantime. The track-listing is below.